For many first-generation college students, parents and family members are an integral part of the college experience, whether celebrating her successes or assisting with family responsibilities.

We know that parental involvement is positive: Middle-class, college-educated parents impart cultural capital, and their children generally do better in college. One study found that students without parents to transmit that knowledge still benefit from advisers who act similarly to guide their academic journeys.

I have worked with parents who needed help in developing an identity that doesn’t include such active involvement in their children’s lives. In fact, as the parent of a 22-year-old and a 24-year-old, I have significant firsthand experience with this challenge.

That bond doesn’t just disappear when a child has begun college. Cutright continues: “If parents sometimes seem irrational, it might be worth asking if our own closest relationships always run smoothly and logically.”

Mine sure don’t. But that doesn’t mean I stop trying. Nor should we stop trying to work with parents. We are obligated to engage parents in a constructive way, letting them know that we value their involvement as we simultaneously help them learn new ways of being involved at this very challenging transitional point in their family’s life.

Gina Stewart has a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Texas at Austin. She is the chief executive and a founder of Arctic Inc., which develops sustainable methods of weed control for turf and agriculture. She writes about nonacademic careers for Ph.D.'s in the sciences.